Paper checklist or a checklist app?
A paper checklist tells you what should happen at close. It cannot tell you whether it did: initials can be written by anyone, at any time, all at once, and nobody reads the sheet until something has gone wrong. An app like Donewell records who ticked each item, at what time, with a photo where it matters, and tells the owner the next morning what was missed — for $9.95 a month or $99 a year for one location.
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| Paper checklist | Donewell | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | A printer and a clipboard. | $9.95 a month or $99 a year for one location. |
| Who did each item | Initials, if someone wrote them. Anyone can write anyone’s. | The name of the person signed in on the phone that ticked it. |
| When it was done | Whatever time was written down, if one was — often all at once at the end. | The time on the phone when it was ticked, and the time it reached the server. A whole list ticked in thirty seconds is visible as exactly that. |
| Proof of the state of things | None beyond the tick. | A photo on the items that need one — the walk-in, the fryer, the back door — taken with the camera opened on the item. |
| Temperatures | A number, in whatever handwriting. | A number on a keypad, checked against the range you set, with what was done about it when it is out. |
| Knowing what was missed | Someone has to find the sheet and read it. | One email the next morning listing what was not done, by checklist. |
| Works with no signal | Always. | Yes: every tick is saved on the phone and sent when there is signal. |
| Records for an inspector | The sheets you kept, in the order you kept them. | Every night kept, item by item, with photos kept for two years. |
Is a paper closing checklist enough?
It is enough when the person who needs to know is standing in the building. An owner-operator who closes every night can see whether the chairs are up, and a laminated list is a fine reminder of the order to do things in. Paper stops being enough the first night the owner is not there, because the sheet then has to be trusted, and it records nothing that would let anyone check it.
What does a paper checklist not record?
When each item was actually done, and by whom. A column of initials written in one pen at 11:40 pm looks the same as a close that was done properly over an hour. There is no photo of the walk-in, no reading you can trust was taken on the unit rather than remembered, and no one is told about a missed item until somebody goes looking.
What does a checklist app add?
Evidence, and someone reading it. Each item is ticked on a phone by a named person, with the phone’s time and the time it reached the server both kept. The items that need proof take a photo on the spot. Readings are checked against the range you set. And the owner gets one email in the morning with what was not done, rather than a stack of sheets to read.
How do I make a paper checklist work better in the meantime?
- Put the items in the order you walk the building, front to back door.
- Ask for a time beside every initial, not one signature at the bottom.
- Write the target range next to every temperature, so a bad reading is obvious.
- Keep the sheets, by date, for as long as an inspector could ask for them.
- Read last night’s sheet every morning, or it is not being used.
Every template on this site already runs in walking order, with the ranges beside the readings — and in Donewell, each one proves itself.
Not ready? Try a free restaurant checklist in your browser first — no account needed.
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